News in Brief: A State Capitals Roundup

Virginia Governor Pledges Immigration Review

Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner has told the state's Hispanic leaders
that he will form a task force to study whether illegal immigrants
should be barred from state colleges and universities.

The question of whether Virginia's public colleges and universities
should admit prospective students who have entered the country
illegally became a matter of public debate in September after Jerry W.
Kilgore, the state's Republican attorney general, issued a memo
advising against the practice. The memo upset the state's rapidly
growing Hispanic population, some of whom argued that non-naturalized
Hispanic parents want their children to go to college as much as anyone
else.

The governor, a Democrat, called for the task force last month in
response to questions posed to him at the state's first-ever summit of
Latino activists. Some summit leaders reportedly said a task force
simply would prolong debate on the issue.

Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for Mr. Kilgore, said the attorney general
welcomed the task force idea.

"We don't think it's too much to ask to observe the rules and laws
of society before taking advantage of what society has to offer," he
added. Mr. Murtaugh said the attorney general's recommendation also
stems in part from post-Sept. 11 concerns about the potential security
threats such students might pose.

—Debra Viadero

Kentucky Schools Pay Up
For Attendance-Count Errors

Schools in Kentucky have reaped big benefits from a loophole in the
state's funding formula, according to a recent report.

During the 2001-02 school year, schools received a total of $30
million that was not owed to them, said Lisa Gross, a spokeswoman of
the state department of education. Because the state's funding formula
is based on average daily attendance, when schools overreport their
data, they end up with more state aid than they are due. Even if
schools overestimate by as little as 1 percent statewide, that
translates into an extra $19.5 million in a year, state officials
say.

Before the 2001- 02 school year, schools were allowed to keep the
extra state money. But this year, the state is doing some
belt-tightening, so the legislature withheld money from districts that
got extra funding because of their overestimates. The education
department now plans to provide extra training to the school employees
who oversee attendance and to audit every school's attendance records
every four years. Previously, schools with high test scores received
exemptions from state audits.

—Michelle Galley

Texas Targets Charters For Overpayments by State

Texas officials say the state is owed $5.7 million in overpayments
to charter schools that have shut down, including $4.5 million by two
closed Dallas-area schools that are the subjects of a criminal
investigation.

At the request of a state lawmaker who sponsored a 2001 bill that
tightened charter school oversight, the Texas Education Agency has
compiled a list of 19 closed schools that the agency says owe the state
money for allegedly overreporting enrollment.

Topping the list are the Renaissance Charter School in Irving, with
$2.9 million owed, and the Heritage Academy, a Dallas school that owes
$1.6 million, according to the TEA.

The schools, both of which abruptly closed in September 2000, are
targets of an investigation announced early last month by a
state-financed public-integrity unit of the Travis County prosecutor's
office. The operators of the schools, some of whom are members of the
same family, have denied wrongdoing.

In separate civil litigation related to the funding disputes, the
state attorney general's office sued former officers and employees of
the Heritage Academy in July.

A lawyer representing former Heritage officials in that case denied
last week that the school overreported the number of students it
enrolled full time, as the state contends, or that it owes the state
money.

—Caroline Hendrie

Florida Senate Report: Teacher-Hiring Boom Ahead

Even without the added pressure from Florida's new
class-size-reduction plan, the Sunshine State faces an awesome
teacher-recruitment challenge next year. According to an analysis
prepared for the state Senate last month, Florida districts will need
to hire nearly 17,000 teachers for the 2003-04 school year just to
accommodate expected teacher turnover and enrollment growth.

As if that weren't enough, district recruiters expect to be further
taxed as the state begins to phase in the plan to limit class sizes
that voters narrowly passed Nov. 5. The new constitutional amendment
gives the state until 2010 to reduce class sizes to 18 in grades K-3,
22 in grades 4-8, and 25 in high school. With that added demand for
teachers, Florida expects to have to hire a whopping 25,000 teachers
next year, reportedly 60 percent more than it hired this school
year.

The scale of the demand requires that districts not just recruit
teachers, but also help more people become teachers, said Gracie Diaz,
the director of instructional staffing for the 270,000-student Broward
County public schools. Her district has helped substitutes and other
paraprofessionals receive teacher training, and has allowed
career-changers to enter the profession by taking licensing courses
online.

Michigan Supreme Court Leaves Special Ed. Formula Intact

A suit seeking to change the way Michigan pays for special education
has again failed to make progress in the courts.

Acting late last month, the Michigan Supreme Court refused in a 5-2
vote to review a Michigan Court of Appeals decision last spring that
upheld the constitutionality of the current school aid system.

The supreme court's action could end a lengthy quest on the part of
most of the state's school districts for more state funding to cover
the costs of special education. ("Mich. Sued 3rd Time Over Spec. Ed.
Funds," Dec. 6, 2000.)

A majority of justices on the state's highest court said they
weren't persuaded that the case, known as Durant III, should be
reopened. In the suit, more than 400 districts argue for money to cover
special education services above the per-pupil allotments provided by
the state. The lawyer for the districts has indicated he might seek
another hearing.

Outgoing Gov. John Engler, a Republican, has long advocated an end
to the suit, and he said through a spokeswoman that he was pleased at
the result, which he took as being final.

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